Ms. Shafer was a Senior Managing Director in Strategic Finance at Bear Stearns, working with fixed income and securitization asset managers and investors. In 2010, she worked with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Subsequently, she joined a think tank, has served as an expert witness, consulted in financial services, guest lectured at law schools and served on the boards of several national nonprofits. Previously, Ms. Shafer served as Staff Director of the Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Her policy work there engendered a lifelong interest in the beneficial power of finance and the challenge of effective regulation.

She has a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.